Wiley Rein has one of the most active and well-respected bid protest practices in the nation, one that is widely regarded as the Government Contracts Group’s “forte” (Chambers USA 2011). Whether as a successful awardee or disappointed bidder, all companies must understand the realities of the bid protest process to successfully defend their own contract awards from protest or to vindicate their rights to full and open competition as a protester. With collective participation in thousands of bid protests, there is little—if anything—that our Government Contracts lawyers have not seen before, which is critical in bid protest litigation where there is no “ramp-up” time or room for “on-the-job training.”

We regularly represent companies either challenging or defending procurement procedures or contract awards in bid protests before contracting agencies, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC), and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Wiley Rein also draws on a deep pool of attorneys with security clearances in order to handle protests involving classified programs.

Our successes span the range of protest bases and include many issues of first impression:

Successfully protested on behalf of Verizon Wireless the terms of a GSA solicitation that would have impacted more than $1.6 billion in government-wide purchases of wireless services. See Decision--Verizon Wireless, B-406854, Sept. 17, 2012, 2012 CPD ¶ 260. Verizon Wireless was subsequently awarded one of the contracts issued under the solicitation.

Successfully challenged before the COFC, the Army’s nonresponsibility determination and its decision to exclude our client from the competitive range. See Decision--Afghan American Army Servs. Corp. v. United States, 106 Fed. Cl. 714 (Oct. 15, 2012).

Successfully protested on behalf of The Boeing Company the U.S. Air Force award of a $35 billion contract for the next generation of aerial refueling tankers, prevailing on several protest grounds in one of the most prominent GAO protests in recent history. See Decision--The Boeing Company, B-311344, June 18, 2008, 2008 CPD ¶ 114. Boeing was subsequently awarded the contract following a new competition.

In addition to these and other reported decisions, Wiley Rein has represented clients in numerous other bid protest matters that yielded successful results without a written decision, including matters in which the procuring agency has voluntarily adopted early corrective action or a protest has resulted in early outcome prediction.

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